Those cowards at the Country Music Awards have done it again, as the nominations for the annual award show were handed down tonight, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” was notably absent from the running for “Song Of The Year.” Despite having dominated Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for months—and the presence of certified country royalty Billy Ray Cyrus on its most transmitted remix—Nas’ ode to the horses in the back was forced to content itself with a pity vote nomination for Musical Event Of The Year, alongside Brooks and fucking Dunn.
And, okay: Let’s take a second to acknowledge that, as far as memes go, “Old Town Road” is somewhere in the territory of “We made an A.I. watch a thousand hours of Matlock” in terms of its life cycle at this point. Actually, let’s check…Yep, you knew this had to exist:
But regardless of shelf life, “Old Town Road” is still one of the biggest songs of the year, and an undeniable jam. Are we really supposed to believe that Blake Shelton yell-singing about baptizing his dog while electric guitars have a conniption behind him makes for a better country song?
We guess we should just be grateful that the CMAs acknowledged that “Old Town Road” was country at all, given the initial reaction from country charts and stations to the song. Still, we don’t want to have to be the ones to have to break the news to the horses. (They’re in the back.)